The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour

The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour

Description: 
Cheaper than a visit to the shrink
Composers: 
Guy Klucevsek
Lars Hollmer
Performers: 
Guy Klucevsek
Alex Meixner
Brandon Seabrook
Marcus Rojas
Kenny Wollesen
Pete Donovan
John Hollenbeck
Jo Lawry
Theo Bleckmann
Peter Eldridge
Steve Elson
Dave Douglas
Brave Combo
Jeffrey Barnes
Carl Finch
Little Jack Melody
Alan Emert
Catalog Number: 
#819
Genre: 
world
Jazz
Collection: 
accordion
audiophile
Location: 

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Price: 
$15.00
Release Date: 
Jan 31, 2012
Liner Notes: 
View
1 CD
The Multiple Personality Reunion TouriTunes Artist's PageiTunes Album Page
Song TitleTimePrice
1.Breathless and Bewildered01:51$0.99
2.Waltz for Sandy02:48$0.99
3.Gimme a Minute, Please (My Sequins Are Showing)01:26$0.99
4.Larsong05:07$0.99
5.Ratatatatouille04:41$0.99
6.Hymnopedie No. 101:33$0.99
7.Hymnopedie No. 203:24$0.99
8.Hymnopedie No. 303:23$0.99
9.Pink Elephant05:59$0.99
10.O'o02:54$0.99
11.Ladereld03:44$0.99
12.The C and M Waltz03:47$0.99
13.Moja Baba Je Pijana04:44$0.99
One Sheet: 

If there’s one adverb-adjective combo that can describe composer/accordionist Guy Klucevsek, it’s unabashedly eclectic. Over the course of twenty-one releases, his music has combined the heart-pounding rhythms of eastern Europe with teeming contrapuntal passages, gorgeous melodies, and Klucevsek’s own “trailblazing virtuosity” [-Wall Street Journal]. But his twenty-second release, The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour, might be his most ambitious yet.

It’s a global tour, a worldwide tribute to the composers and musicians who have shaped him as a creative artist. From France to Bulgaria to Spain, he pays homage to Erik Satie and the Swingle Singers, Ivan Milev, and Basque trikitixa maestro, Kepa Junkera. On “The C&M Waltz” and “Moja Baba Je Pijana,” Klucevsek harks back to the Slovenian-American polkas and waltzes of his childhood, while Martin Denny’s exotica gets a nod on “O’O.” Middle Eastern pop even creeps in in the form of “Pink Elephant.”

But he couldn’t have done it alone. The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour is very much a group effort, made possible by a generous United States Artists Collins Fellowship. Carl Finch co-produced six of the tracks, and performed on them with his group, Brave Combo, winners of two Grammy awards for Best Polka Album. Featured on these tracks are two accordion prodigies, Alex Meixner (whose Polka Freak Out was nominated for a Grammy) and exciting young Texas Swing specialist Ginny Mac.

In addition to these special guests, the album features Klucevsek’s longtime Charms of the Night Sky bandleader, trumpeter Dave Douglas and an all-star cast of New York City’s finest musicians: singers Jo Lawry (currently on tour with Sting), fellow innova artist Theo Bleckmann and Peter Eldridge; drummers John Hollenbeck and Kenny Wollesen; Marcus Rojas on tuba; Pete Donovan on bass; Steve Elson on clarinet and saxes; and Brandon Seabrook on tenor banjo and acoustic guitar.

Guy Klucevsek is one of the world’s most versatile and highly-respected accordionists. He has performed and/or recorded with Accordion Tribe, Laurie Anderson, Bang On a Can, Alan Bern, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Coleman, Dave Douglas, Bill Frisell, Rahim al Haj, Robin Holcomb, Kepa Junkera, the Kronos Quartet, Natalie Merchant, Present Music, Relâche, John Williams, Zeitgeist, and John Zorn.

He has premiered over 50 solo accordion pieces, including his own, as well as those he has commissioned from Mary Ellen Childs, William Duckworth, Fred Frith, Aaron Jay Kernis, Jerome Kitzke, Stephen Montague, Somei Satoh, Lois V Vierk, and John Zorn. He has also appeared on “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

Reviews: 

SEATTLE WEEKLY
"Forget everything you thought you knew about the accordion."

DOWNBEAT
"A rebel with an accordion ... Klucevsek combines poker-faced wit and imagination with command of his instrument, forcing you to re-think the accordion’s limitations.”

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
"Klucevsek is a musical Orient Express whose themes pass from Hungarian gypsy to Slovenian waltz to Middle Eastern wail without stopping at the borders."
—Tom Strini

STARKLAND
"The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour … reflect[s] an exceptionally wide range of influences and inspirations, Guy’s ever-fertile imagination, his effective arrangements, impeccable musicianship, and genuine musical pleasures from start to finish." [FULL ARTICLE

KATHODIK
"Guy Klucevsek, se non il più bravo, è probabilmente il più eclettico fisarmonicista vivente. A suo agio con musica folk di ogni genere, col jazz, con la classica, che spesso riarrangia in maniera fantasiosa per il proprio strumento, e con la contemporanea, di cui è interprete e ispiratore, qui si cimenta con un repertorio quanto mai variegato, ma a grandi linee ascrivibile alla musica etnica. O, meglio, alle musiche etniche: dalla polka al klezmer, dal latino-americano al valzer, dalla chanson al vaudeville, mondi in cui egli si tuffa con passione e che restituisce filtrati, colorati e arricchiti dalla sua fisarmonica, personale ma mai eccessiva, sensibile e ironica, accompagnata da collaboratori d’eccezione. Sto parlando del Brave Congo Quartet, con le loro trombe, percussioni e chitarre; dell’altro fisarmonicista Alex Meixner; e occasionalmente dei mitici Swingle Singers. La miscela è formidabile, ed estremamente gradevole, in questo avvincente e coloratissimo giro del mondo in compagnia dell’affiatassimo ensemble, guidata dall’ispiratissimo leader e dalle sue “personalità multiple”. [FULL ARTICLE]
Filippo Focosi 

GAPPLEGATE GUITAR AND BASS BLOG
"[W]ild and wonderful, woolly and well-honed music." [FULL ARTICLE]
Greg Edwards 

ICON MAGAZINE
(***1/2) "Guy Klucevsek is an accordion player that will not let the noble squeezebox go gently into that good night of polka, zydeco, and Tex-Mex sounds (not that there’s anything wrong with them) ... The fractured, jazzaccented waltz “Pink Elephant” recalls the daffy cool of Frank Zappa’s classical-type compositions and Warner Brothers’ cartoon music. The elegant, heart-swelling Frenchness of GK’s “Hymnopedie” series would’ve been perfect for/in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. The swirling “Breathless and Bewildered” shows the (un)common ground between the oom-pah of polka and the stirring strains of Balkan folk. If you’ve a narrow (or no) appreciation for the accordion, the aptly-named The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour will fix that." 
Mark Keresman 

THIS IS BOOK'S MUSIC
"I [enjoyed] how he played in a manner that sounded happy, romantic, and at times playful, especially in the 87 second 'Gimme A Minute, Please (My Sequins Are Showing)', which reminded me of a lot of the interesting records from the late 50′s/early 60′s that might’ve been categorized as 'world', 'exotic', or 'weird', but you bought it because it represented the kind of sounds you’d never hear on the radio ... Let’s hope this tour goes worldwide." [FULL ARTICLE]
John Book 

AUSCULTATIONS “[S]imultaneously an homage to and a subversion of musical traditions. The Multiple Personality Reunion Tour is a stunning album steeped in the widespread roots of the accordion.” —Daniel Corral

CRITICAL JAZZ
"[T]he seriousness and incredible level of proficiency displayed here will make you forget every unfair stereotype [about] Polka music in general and the accordion in particular! … Klucevsek has an improvisational skill that is off the charts and certainly comparable to any of the other improvisational wizards working the industry today. Klucevsek is not simply playing the notes as they occur but is thinking notes and measures ahead and journeys into a more open ended flight of fancy. … This is a jazz collective in the truest sense of the word and one of those special recordings that trashes stereotypes while cutting a new and exciting lyrical path for others to follow. Guy Klucevsek may well be the Joe Satriani of the Slovenian/Polka world!" [FULL ARTICLE]
Brent Black